The Starwalker is an experimental vessel equipped with a star-stepping drive. She's brand new, the paint is still wet, and she's working out the kinks in her new skin. She has a lot to learn, and what the hell is this engine of hers anyway?

Priority: take brother-drone to Chief Engineer
Assessment: brother-drone unable to relocate himself
Arranging brother-drone into optimal carrying position…
Assessment: brother-drone does not have optimal carrying position
Welding brother-drone’s hand to his head
Assessment: carrying position is as good as it is going to get
Lifting brother-drone
Proceeding to Engineering level…

Little-brother-drones detected near Mess Hall
Message sent: diagnostic of environmental systems required
Message received: rude gesture from little-brother-drone Bit
Attempt to run over little-brother-drones missed
Little-brother-drones escaping in ducts
Assessment: they better run
Assessment: they are lucky to be here, not eaten by black hole
Assessment: lucky to only have one brother-drone offline
Assessment: do not want to be like Big Ass
Assessment: properly sustained Chief Engineer will increase chances of successful brother-drone repair
Proceeding to Mess Hall…

Diagnostic analysis of air filtration system complete
Result: air filters at 70% saturation
Result: air filters able to resume operation
Assessment: no repairs required
Proceeding to air circulation hub…

Engineering status: unchanged since last visit
Proceeding to Chief Engineer’s location
Waiting patiently
Waiting patiently…
Message overheard: (Prisoner) “I could help, you know.”
Message overheard: (Chief Engineer) “Like last time? I’m not sure we need help like that.”
Message overheard: (Prisoner) “What? I did everything necessary to keep this ship going.”
Message overheard: (Chief Engineer) “Except protect Starry.”
Message overheard: (Prisoner) “I tried to shield her from the pulses, but she refused! What was I supposed to do?”
Message overheard: (Chief Engineer) “You were supposed to do it anyway.”
Assessment: yeah!
Message overheard: (Prisoner) “Except she was right. We wouldn’t have been able to pull out of that spin without her. We got out of it just fine.”
Message overheard: (Chief Engineer) “Because I got her boxed in time.”
Assessment: Chief Engineer is good
Proceeding to prisoner’s location
Stopping in front of prisoner
Flexing hands
Message overheard: (Prisoner) “All right, all right. Look, I promise to box the AI if she needs it. Will you let me help now?”
Message overheard: (parent AI) “She’s telling the truth, Elliott. I did tell her not to box me.”
Message overheard: (Chief Engineer) “Don’t care. She put you in danger.”
Message overheard: (parent AI) “But she didn’t put all of you in danger. She helped.”
Message overheard: (Chief Engineer): “Fine. Fine! But not without supervision.”
Message overheard: (Prisoner) “What about this little guy? He could supervise me. Though I’m not sure I like the way he’s looking at me.”
Flexing hands
Lighting blowtorch
Message overheard: (Chief Engineer) “That’s because he’s smart enough not to trust you.”
Assessment: damn right
Assessment: engineer could easily disable me
Assessment: I am not sufficiently equipped to supervise a prisoner/engineer
Assessment: pre-emptive welding of prisoner’s shoes to deck may be required
Message overheard: (SecOff Brasco) “No way you’re going anywhere without me, crazy spanner lady.”
Assessment: SecOff Brasco may shoot the prisoner
Assessment: SecOff Brasco is good
Message overheard: (Prisoner) “Fine, whatever you say.”
Message overheard: (SecOff Brasco) “You considering this, Monaghan?”
Message overheard: (Chief Engineer) “We’ve got a lot of systems down. And I’m pretty sure she ain’t stupid enough to sabotage a critical system when we’re this far from help of any kind. Right?”
Message overheard: (Prisoner) “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”
Message overheard: (SecOff Brasco) “I ain’t doing nothing until I clear it with the captain.”
Assessment: SecOff Brasco is more sensible than usual
Assessment: SecOff Brasco may require sustenance and rest
New task: obtain sustenance for SecOff Brasco
Task: filed near top of secondary task list
Message received: “Waldo, what the fuck you doing? Stop touching me.”
Patting of SecOff Brasco’s leg ceased
Message received: “Hey, Waldo. I need a portable light and a length of six-millimetre cable.”

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My day job is in software development (as a writer and team lead, not as a software developer), so I fully understand what you mean about impenetrable log files. It’s possible this is me channeling those urges I’m not allowed to indulge in a professional context… 😉

Targetdrone – yeah, Starry’s boys don’t get many opportunities to shine, particularly the mid-sized pair. It was really fun, trying to figure out what Waldo’s voice would actually be like.

Francisco – yay! I’m glad you enjoyed it. Some of it was a little upsetting to write, most of it was just plain fun, like Waldo accidentally dropping Casper down a shaft and very carefully not admitting it into his logs. And calculating his chances of getting away with it.

mjkj – thank you! I’m so pleased you like it. 😀 This was a really different format for me, and I’m happy it seems to be working out.

Osolodo – thank you! Ah, the dry little jokes you can work in to relatively dead-pan text. 😀

I’m so relieved that you guys enjoyed this one! After the last few intense posts, I needed a bit of a mental break, so decided to try something a bit different. This might be a one-off log from a drone, or we might get more – I’m not sure yet! I’ll see how the story goes. We might need one more because I really should work in a ‘reticulating splines’ reference somewhere…

We’ll be back to ‘what’s happening with the whale-kitten-avatar’ next week. 🙂

and it definitely worked nice as “intensity-breaker” …. though now i have to think about what a log from bit and/or byte would look like… and i can’t help but imagine some kind of sugared up adhd kid with a mischievous streak ….. 😛

It suddenly occurred to me, as Waldo was welding Casper’s arm, that I have no idea what Waldo and Casper look like. I envision Big Ass as a sort of Mars-Rover/golfcart hybrid, and Bit and Byte as spiderbots (no explanation needed!), but…

Targetdrone – I will keep that in mind! 😀
And yes, that is a good description of what a Bit/Byte log would look like. 😉

MooseHowl – Good question! Francisco is close: the mid-sized drones have tracks rather than feet, and are based on Number 5 from Short Circuit and Wall-E. In size, they’re about midway between those two (Number 5 is a bit bulky for ship operations). One difference is that they have four arms, not two (all the drones have four arms).

Francisco – I don’t think that they necessarily have conscious control. It could be an unconscious effect, part of Starry’s influence/effect. She’s picky with what she puts in her logs sometimes, too. 😉

Ian – thank you! So glad you liked it. It has been fun figuring out Waldo’s internal voice. (I love that they don’t talk to the crew, but it’s nice to know what’s going on on the inside, too.)

thomas – thank you! I love these boys for the lighter elements they bring to the story. 🙂

Spencer – thanks! Looks like a few of you would like a Bit or Byte log. I’ll put it on my list. 😉

Sorry for the slight delay with the next post, everyone. It’s on the way, delayed by a pulled muscle in my back. Almost there, should be up in a few hours.

Andrul – Wide Load was the drone who sacrificed himself for Lang Lang. One of this big fellas. Big Ass is the big one that is left.
Waldo is one of the mid-sized drones.
Dropping Casper might have turned out to be the most efficient way to get him down there, but I don’t think it was entirely intentional. 😉